Afterimages on the rusty rails. The heavy rain made the iron roof of District 7 crackle. Gu Ye huddled under the eaves of the express delivery station, staring at the countdown on his wrist that kept beating. It was still 17 minutes before he reached the standard for today's working hours. The smell of rain mixed with engine oil entered the nose, and the halo of the giant holographic billboard in the distance twisted into colorful oil paint on the accumulated water. He spat and held the old incubator tightly in his arms. On the side of the box was a crooked sun drawn by his daughter Xiaosui. The order tone rang again, the destination was District 3 on the other side of the wall, and the route given by the algorithm went through an old abandoned subway tunnel. Gu Ye cursed and got on the clanking electric three-wheeler. Deep in the tunnel, the emergency lights had long since broken down, and only headlights cut through the darkness. Just at a sharp turn, the wheel ran over something hard and the car body jerked. He got out of the car and took a look. Half-buried in the water was a palm-sized black flake, with a faint blue glow on the edge. By some strange mistake, he picked it up and wiped off the mud, and a line of words suddenly appeared on the surface of the sheet: Low-privilege vital signs detected, backup interface activated. Immediately afterwards, the tunnel wall in front of him rippled like water waves, revealing a clean and bright corridor with warm wooden floors. The air was filled with the aroma of coffee and toast. A figure wearing a silk nightgown was walking towards the end of the corridor. The man turned around and Gu Ye's heart stopped. It was his own face.
